Help with a new car...

EPM

Long one so bear with me...

Ok, after well over a year my father might finally be edging close to changing his car and I need opinions on his options.

Basically he has a 2006 Focus 1.6 Ghia saloon with only 43k km up on it and is willing to spend up to €20k on top of this. But it's not a target like he keeps saying.

His requirements are a good spec (matching what he has and that's got a few extras), boot big enough for two golf bags and trollys, comfy seats and something peppy and economical (the Focus is peppy to him). He (read my mother) wont go older than 2008. Oh and a "C" reg:rolleyes:

He came close on a few cars but for one reason and another he decided against them.

So the options are an 09 Mondeo Zetec 1.8 tdci, a new Mazda 3 Sport spec 1.6 diesel and an Octavia VRS diesel (or even a high spec 1.6 diesel might swing it).

But - and this is a big but with regard to modern diesels - he does about 6k miles a year and almost all around town. I've mentioned to him about DPF's and DMF's recently and he's been reading up on them and now has doubts.

So last weekend he called and said he had a run in a 2008 Mondeo 1.6 Zetec with fcek all mileage on it. He was happy with the power and everything else. Plus the cost to change was over €6k less than the cheapest of the other alternatives - less than half his budget.

Am I right in thinking this would be a better buy now over say the Mazda 3 diesel based on reliability (or potential for unreliability) and resale say in two to three years, i.e. would it be a cheaper option? If anyone has any other suggestions on something fire away too.

Cheers:D

Darsad

€ 20 k would easily get him into a 09 or 10 current model Subaru Legacy Diesel and if its the current one no DPF problems as it has an open DPF well speced cheap road ttax and AWD included !

Padraig Mor

At the risk of being predictable - Octavia 1.2 TSI? Of his list, the VRS naturally. I'd say the Mondeo 1.6 will be worth **** all in a couple of years.



Of course he could always get a Citroen C5. Say a nice 2008 model.

bazz26

If he is only doing 6k miles a year then I think diesel is a waste of money for him.

He should look at the brand new Opel Astra 1.4 litre petrol, it costs €156 to tax has around 100bhp or the 1.4 litre (140bhp) turbo and should be able to get a high spec SE or Elite model well within budget.

Details here: http://www.opel.ie/opel/europe/ireland/wholesale/en1/home/vehicles/view_all_vehicles/passengercars/astra_ng/features_specs/trims-models.html

If he is still set on a diesel then the Astra also comes in 1.3 litre CDTi which costs €104 to tax per year.

Mr Benevolent

Berty wrote: »

Oh COME ON! Skoda Superb!!! Ambition spec would suit him fine. Big car.

Ah the Superb. The new Octavia of the Motors forum

unkel

Paste

FWIW if your father does 6k per year and buys a (nearly) new low mileage diesel to sell it on again in a few years time, he is unlikely to ever have a DMF problem

For well within his budget he could get a brand new Octavia 1.6d. Low tax, low running costs and easy peasy to sell on in 4 years time with 24k on it.

I'd say it would fit 5 golf bags and trolleys, 10 with the back seat down

EPM

Where did that Berty comment go?

He reckons the Superb is too big:D

He said no to the Legacy, doesn't like the Astra and is calling into Skoda this evening.

Oh and Padraig Mor - the C5 may be a bit wide for fitting between gates:P

R.O.R

The only thing I'd be wary about with the Mondeo is that a lot of the 1.6's were used as rental cars. It might not have been, but it's worth checking.

Not sure where in Cork you are, but I'd recommend heading out to Tarrants if it's not too far, and tell them I sent you

Focus has to be worth at least €7,500 as a trade in. I'd be looking at the Octavia 1.6Tdi DSG Elegance, or the 2.0Tdi should be in budget if he wants quicker.

You can always take it for a good blast once in a while - to clear the DPF of course

EPM

ok, he's also spotted an 08 2 litre petrol Titanium X Mondeo.

Anyone have any experience of them? He seems to be dismissing the diesel a bit more. He also said he *may* keep onto it for a bit longer than usual because of the 2 litre being sale proof

unkel

Fine car. Nobody wants a 2l petrol anymore though, so he'd need to get it for a bargain basement price (not much more than half the price of a new one). And then indeed, keep it for a long time.

EPM

unkel wrote: »

Fine car. Nobody wants a 2l petrol anymore though, so he'd need to get it for a bargain basement price (not much more than half the price of a new one). And then indeed, keep it for a long time.

The one he's spotted is less than half the price of a new one:D

Spec looks great on it too - not online yet though. I'd be of the view with that car it's a keeper for years. Will try and get more details on it if I can

Padraig Mor

Titanium X is a nice spec alright.

EPM

Heated leather, cruise, bluetooth, parking sensors, climate...:D

R.O.R

EPM wrote: »

The one he's spotted is less than half the price of a new one:D

Spec looks great on it too - not online yet though. I'd be of the view with that car it's a keeper for years. Will try and get more details on it if I can

Make sure the push button start has been replaced already as all the Titanium models we had in 08 (including 2 x 2.0i) had that done.

Double check the service intervals on that model. It should be a FlexiFuel so may have intervals every 10,000km rather than 20,000km - makes a difference to the cost of ownership on these things. It looks we are doing them every 20k, but don't know if that's correct.

EPM

Whats the deal with that FFV thing? Make any difference to roadtax? 10k km would be ok for him - gets the other thing done every year with the small mileage.

Still cant help thinking an Octavia would be better

unkel

Respect for your old man

The new model Mondeo is a far superior car compared to an Octavia. At less than half the price for a 2 year old one, he's onto a winner!

EPM

Just hope it's in good nick and all that now. Could finally be a purchase at the end of this one...

bazz26

FFV is the flexifuel system which runs on E85 bio-ethanol, afaik only Maxol sell it at the moment but it is cheaper than unleaded. Thing is that most Mondeo FFVs I've seen are pretty basic spec wise.

EPM

Would there be a drawback using normal pertol in it?

Advert is now up but no pics. Doesn't mention FFV. Is it possible it's just a 2.0 litre normal petrol?

Aplolgies for the questions, it's just that anytime there's a thread on this bio-ethanol stuff it bores me and I ignore them:pac:

bazz26

Afaik the FFV in the Mondeo is a 2.0 litre petrol engine and can run on a mixture of unleaded and bio-ethanol.

If it is just a normal 2.0 litre petrol Mondeo then I would run away as your father will be married to it. Nobody wants 2.0 litre petrol Mondeos in this country unless they have some advantage such as the FFV's lower Co2 emmissions.

R.O.R

At the start of 08 the cars were just normal petrol powered. Ford must have figured out ir was easy to adapt them for E85 so for Ireland they got the €2,500 FlexiFuel VRT discount.

It's the same engine - not sure what adaptation they did to enable E85 running. Will probably run better on normal unleaded.

Padraig Mor

bazz26 wrote: »

. Nobody wants 2.0 litre petrol Mondeos in this country unless they have some advantage such as the FFV's lower Co2 emmissions.

Or a bloody nice spec!

Leonard Hofstadter

bazz26 wrote: »

Nobody wants 2.0 litre petrol Mondeos in this country unless they have some advantage such as the FFV's lower Co2 emmissions.

Except the FFV doesn't - road tax is the same for the FFV and standard models.

I'd try and get a standard 2.0 - why bother having a car with 10k km service intervals when you can have one that can go twice the distance? Fair enough the OP's dad may do less than that kind of mileage - but someone who might be looking for such a car in a few years' time may not and the FFV will be less desirable as a result.

The Pontiac

Personally I'd sell the Focus privately and go to the dealers looking for a straight cash deal. That's of course if you can sell it, but I'd definetly advertise it first anyway. This is the way I prefer to do it myself and you should come away with a much better deal. It also then gives you the option of buying privately and cutting out the middle man.

It's the way I always do it myself, but some people don't like the risks involved. I've always been sucessful myself and never had a single buyer come back to me or had a problems with any of the cars I bought privately.

I do like the latest Mondeo, but I always prefer to buy Mondeo's at least few years old (3-5 years) as they always depreciated rapidly in the first few years.

Oh and a "C" reg

I know a few people that are very fussy about this actually. As a Cork man myself, I quite happy with my "LK" reg.

Leonard Hofstadter

I'd always want a C reg on my car but wouldn't refuse to buy a car simply because it had a country reg on it, and I wouldn't expect to pay less because the car has a country reg either.

EPM

Just an update.

He went to look at the 2 litre Titanium X spec Mondeo today and was very happy with it. Low mileage (~20k), FSH, Xenons, Leather and Alcantara heated seats, front and read parking sensors, climate, cruise, bluetooth, 6 cd changer - the works apparantly. (A certain poster here could add anything extra since he was sniffing about it today too:D)

Did the deal there and then and collecting it friday.

FWIW - €8500 with his own which I think is a pretty good deal.

Padraig Mor

Hehe.....I should have got there earlier! Nice car, great condition. Well wear!

edit: goes to show that a well priced car will be snapped up.

R.O.R

What colour exterior / interior? One of my favourites that we have on our temporary fleet is an 08 Titanium X Auto diesel in black with black interior. Lovely to drive and really comfy.

Only problem I have is the feckin parking sensors. They are always on, even if you are stopped. Queing in traffic, if you get too close to the car in front they start beeping. If you reverse to near a wall, they beep as they should, but on most other cars when you take it out of reverse, they stop. Not the Mondeo - just keeps on beeping till you turn it off.

Easy to stop as the button for them is on the dash, but you'll have to remember to turn them on again.

kravmaga

EPM wrote: »

Long one so bear with me...

Ok, after well over a year my father might finally be edging close to changing his car and I need opinions on his options.

Basically he has a 2006 Focus 1.6 Ghia saloon with only 43k km up on it and is willing to spend up to €20k on top of this. But it's not a target like he keeps saying.

His requirements are a good spec (matching what he has and that's got a few extras), boot big enough for two golf bags and trollys, comfy seats and something peppy and economical (the Focus is peppy to him). He (read my mother) wont go older than 2008. Oh and a "C" reg:rolleyes:

He came close on a few cars but for one reason and another he decided against them.

So the options are an 09 Mondeo Zetec 1.8 tdci, a new Mazda 3 Sport spec 1.6 diesel and an Octavia VRS diesel (or even a high spec 1.6 diesel might swing it).

But - and this is a big but with regard to modern diesels - he does about 6k miles a year and almost all around town. I've mentioned to him about DPF's and DMF's recently and he's been reading up on them and now has doubts.

So last weekend he called and said he had a run in a 2008 Mondeo 1.6 Zetec with fcek all mileage on it. He was happy with the power and everything else. Plus the cost to change was over €6k less than the cheapest of the other alternatives - less than half his budget.

Am I right in thinking this would be a better buy now over say the Mazda 3 diesel based on reliability (or potential for unreliability) and resale say in two to three years, i.e. would it be a cheaper option? If anyone has any other suggestions on something fire away too.

Cheers:D

May I ask why your father wants to change his current 2006 Ford Focus.

Is there something wrong with it?

Padraig Mor

blueeyedboy wrote: »

May I ask why your father wants to change his current 2006 Ford Focus.

Is there something wrong with it?

Because he feels like it?

ROR: car is silver with black interior. 17" 15 spoke alloys. Black Mondeos with the 18" 5 spoke alloys do look the business alright.

EPM

blueeyedboy wrote: »

May I ask why your father wants to change his current 2006 Ford Focus.

Is there something wrong with it?

Nothing at all. Flew through the NCT last week and everything. Just fancies a change thats all. Any real interest in the car has just worn off by now

EPM

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Because he feels like it?

ROR: car is silver with black interior. 17" 15 spoke alloys. Black Mondeos with the 18" 5 spoke alloys do look the business alright.

Counting the spokes were we:D

He'll need the darker interior anyway. Must book a flight home for the weekend for nose about it now...

kravmaga

EPM wrote: »

Nothing at all. Flew through the NCT last week and everything. Just fancies a change thats all. Any real interest in the car has just worn off by now

ah fair play to him........happy driving

groupb

EPM wrote: »

Whats the deal with that FFV thing? Make any difference to roadtax? 10k km would be ok for him - gets the other thing done every year with the small mileage.

Still cant help thinking an Octavia would be better

Why would you think that an octavia is better than a mondeo? An octavia is a lot smaller than a mondeo. It drives like a golf (average at best) and the experience that my company has had with regard to reliability wouldn't inspire confidence. You'll pay more for a mondeo but as the saying goes , "you get what you pay for". If it was my money there wouldn't be any contest.

EPM

groupb wrote: »

Why would you think that an octavia is better than a mondeo? An octavia is a lot smaller than a mondeo. It drives like a golf (average at best) and the experience that my company has had with regard to reliability wouldn't inspire confidence. You'll pay more for a mondeo but as the saying goes , "you get what you pay for". If it was my money there wouldn't be any contest.

I was thinking in terms of warranty and running costs etc.

As a car I think the Mondeo is the better one by a mile but in this instance I thought an Octavia may suit his use a bit better.

bazz26

OP, is the Mondeo petrol or diesel?

unkel

EPM wrote: »

Just an update.

He went to look at the 2 litre Titanium X spec Mondeo today and was very happy with it. Low mileage (~20k), FSH, Xenons, Leather and Alcantara heated seats, front and read parking sensors, climate, cruise, bluetooth, 6 cd changer - the works apparantly. (A certain poster here could add anything extra since he was sniffing about it today too:D)

Did the deal there and then and collecting it friday.

FWIW - €8500 with his own which I think is a pretty good deal.

It is a pretty good deal. Your dad did very well and I'm sure he'll be chuffed with himself and with his new car. Fair play to him!

EPM

bazz26 wrote: »

OP, is the Mondeo petrol or diesel?

Petrol, non-flexifuel.

He does tiny mileage and he's in the mind because of the engine now that it's a keeper for a little longer than he would have originally kept any of the others for.

VolvoMan

Tell him well wear with it.

Opting for a non-flexifuel engine was a wise choice, as I've heard of them giving trouble in Volvo's.

EPM

Cheers.

I think it will be a good comfy one to pass the time away sitting in traffic. It will get a service within the FFV schedule once a year but good to know that if he does start doing a longer commute or anything that he's safe on that front. That engine is supposed to be pretty strong in it's normal guise too.